ABSTRACT: PLANNING & EVALUATION CORE In line with our long-term goal to eliminate cancer health disparities in Florida, California and nationally, the University of Florida (UF), Florida A&M University (FAMU) and University of Southern California (USC) have formed a triad partnership to establish the Florida-California Cancer Research, Education & Engagement (CaRE2) Health Equity Center. The Planning and Evaluation Core (PEC) of the CARE2 Health Equity Center will implement a systematic planning and assessment plan that guides program improvement and document accountability, and effectiveness. The specific aims of the PEC are to: (1) Provide effective planning and tracking of partnership activities (2) Provide effective planning for the assessment of CaRE2 Center's partnership by the Program Steering Committee; (3) Determine the effectiveness of the CaRE2 Center's administrative and leadership activities, inter-institutional relations, community outreach, collaborative research, research training and mentoring, and shared resources; (4) Synthesize evaluation activities to inform strategic planning and priority setting as well as guide directions of future activities; and (5) Assess the effectiveness of mentoring and training of underrepresented minority students and Early Stage Investigators (ESIs). Using clear metrics to assess the outcomes of each core and project, PEC will support the aims of the CaRE2 Center by providing the guidance and oversight to ensure continuous quality improvement. The expected outcomes for the PEC are: (1) evidence documenting the success of scholarship activities and tracking processes among UF, FAMU and USC scientists; (2) documentation of the effectiveness of the quarterly web-based meetings and annual face-to-face retreat; (3) findings from the social network analysis that documents changes in scientific collaborations across the CaRE2 Center; (4) assessment of the congruence between objectives, activities, and outcomes across the cores; and (5) training outcome measures of Dr. Brown's (FAMU ESI) growth as a program evaluator for FAMU.